Cleary has knee procedure go bad; could cost him rest of season

DETROIT >> Daniel Cleary had a procedure done to help his knee for the Wings’ stretch run after the Winter Olympics.

Instead, Cleary has found himself sidelined indefinitely.

Cleary had a painkiller called Synvic One injected in his knee, which is a natural substance that lubricates and cushions knee joints.

It’s a procedure that he’s had done twice earlier and had no side effects.

This time his knee became inflamed.

“There’s like a one percent chance of getting a reaction out of it and I was that one percent,” Cleary said. “It just swelled up real bad, took three weeks for the swelling to go away. I had to drain it numerous times. So now it’s starting to feel better.

“It’s been mentally trying,” Cleary added. “I’m looking to get back on the ice in the next few days.”

Tomas Holmstrom had a similar reaction to the same injection two years ago that made him miss a decent amount of time.

“A lot of people have had it,” Cleary said. “It helps and I wanted to do it for the last 20 games and make the transition to the playoffs like easier, I guess you could say, and I had a one percent reaction. It’s quite fitting, actually, how you see we’ve gone this year with injuries on the team. It’s like, really? That’s how it’s been.”

Detroit is second in the league in man games lost according to mangameslost.com at 379.

“I think the guys are playing great, tip your hat to them,” Cleary said. “I think the objective for anybody who’s hurt is to make yourself available and to get healthy. You want to have as many guys on board as you can.”

Cleary has missed the past 22 games, including all 17 since returning from the Olympic break.

“No, I don’t,” Cleary said when asked if he had a timeframe of when he thought he could return. “It’s been so long. Once you shut it down for so long, you’ve got to rebuild it back up. It’s taken a little while.

“Obviously, you train off the ice,” Cleary continued. “You’re out a week or 10 days or a month or two months, whatever it is, there’s nothing like game condition no matter what you do so you’ve got to get in games, that type of setting. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get it so we’ll see.”

There’s an outside possibility that Cleary could miss the rest of the season because of the injection.

“It could be if I’m not able to get it as strong as I need to get it but I’m working towards that,” Cleary said. “Rehab and not playing is way harder than playing. Let’s put it that way. You try to get out of that (training room) as quick as you can.”

Ins and outs

There was an outside chance Pavel Datsyuk would return to the Wings’ lineup against the Bruins, but that didn’t happening.

The team was also without Daniel Alfredsson, who’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury according to Detroit general manager Ken Holland.

Datsyuk played for Russia at the Olympics, but has only been able to play in two games with the Wings since returning. He last played on Feb. 27, leaving in the second period of a 6-1 win over Ottawa.

Asked if Friday at home against Buffalo would be when he would return Datsyuk said, “Not today.”

Right now it looks like all Datsyuk needs to do is get back in game shape.

“I need to pick up (the) pace,” Datsyuk said. “I think the two days (of practicing) helped me. I need conditioning more. I can’t do what I do.”

The Wings announced they were shutting Datsyuk down for three weeks at the trade deadline to rest his ailing left knee. Last Friday marked that three-week time frame.

“(I) feel much better,” Datsyuk said. “(I’m) happy to skate with team. Full practice, have fun, try to follow, everybody so fast.”

Datsyuk, who missed his 16th consecutive game Wednesday, has 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games this season. He’s played in just four games since the Winter Classic.

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